Gov. Eric Holcomb on Thursday took a 45-minute tour of Stark Industries, located near Terre Haute Regional Airport, before announcing the formation of a new state office.
While in Terre Haute, Holcomb signed Executive Order 18-04, which calls for the creation of the Office of Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning.
"What we're getting at is addressing those very challenges that you [Stark Industries vice president and chief administrative officer Darrel Zeck] alluded to, and that is making sure that we're connecting people to programs that are already in place, that that process is laid out," the governor said.
Holcomb cited another reason: "To make sure that Hoosiers are aware of this pathway for them."
"The advertising of these pathways is critically important so that we can get people access to their future," he continued. "And it's inspiring. ... Think about the 10 years ahead. This new state office will be able to better tailor programs specifically to businesses.
"We've got our federal office as well, but this state office that will be housed in the Department of Workforce Development under commissioner [Fred] Payne's oversight. (We) will have a director in that office that will be a liaison back and forth with individual companies."
Zeck earlier introduced Holcomb to a group of Wabash Valley politicians and business leaders.
He also described Stark Industries as a business that started with two people — Jeff and Lori Stark — and grew into a "multi-million-dollar conglomerate."
"We do, in fact, specialize in the manufacturing of aerospace components for both the [U.S.] Defense [Department] and the commercial industries," Zeck said. "We are a Tier 1 supplier to several jet-engine manufacturers."
Jeff Stark, owner of Stark Industries, led Holcomb and others on a tour of the 87,000-square-foot facility.
"I think he found the processes that we do, the parts that we make and the diversity of things that we're doing that impacts everyone's lives interesting," Stark said.
Near the end of the tour, Holcomb stopped and chatted with Stark Industries quality associate Austin Gentry, a Terre Haute resident, while he was on the job.
As it turned out, the 20-year-old Gentry has known Holcomb for most of his life.
"He was very nice," Gentry said of the governor. "He's a regular guy. We basically talked about our pasts [based on family connections]."
Stark Industries employs more than 75 people, Jeff Stark said.